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Pantagraph

By Dave Hinton

PAXTON -- One casualty of modern production methods has been the loss of craftsmanship and pride, the scarcity of handmade products.

That's why Robert Gano of Paxton got such great satisfaction from a chance to hand-blow his own glass during a visit to the Fenton Art Glass Co.

Gano, who owns and operates Ruby's Glass at 124 N. Market St., Paxton, attended Fenton Art Glass' 100th birthday celebration in Williamstown, W.Va.

Gano toured the factory and museum and watched a live broadcast of Fenton on QVC, a cable-based shopping channel.

He said the most rewarding part of the trip was the opportunity to make some glass. Gano attended Fenton glassmakers' school and went in the factory. With the help of journeymen glass makers, he made an amber basket and a hanging heart hand-blown egg.

Both of the pieces are on display in his shop.

"The process of glass-making goes way back," Gano said. "The way we see it made ... at Fenton is the way they made it pre-turn of the century by actually dipping the glass onto a catcher and blowing the glass the same way they did it in the 1850s.

"Fenton hasn't really changed a lot over the years. Their style of glass-making makes them world-renowned."

Many of today's glass-makers discarded the hand-crafted approach years ago and produce pressed glass.

Gano said it takes about 48 hours to melt the sand and other properties used to make glass.

The egg Gano made took about 30 minutes to produce after it was removed from the furnace.

"We blew it, shaped it, decorated it, refired it to get the decorations to go into the glass. Then we brought it back out and strung it," Gano said.

"Then it goes through another process that takes about four to five hours called annealing that cools it down, because glass right out of the liquid form can run about 2,500 degrees."

The glass needs to be blown because "you expand (it). It stretches the glass to give it its shape," said Gano. "Then you can form it from there. It makes a pocket inside so you can expand it like a big bubble. It takes very little air (because the glass is so hot). I was very surprised."

Shaping involves placing the glass in a press or using a shape bowl.

Blowing each piece is more difficult than the pressed-glass method. Even so, that doesn't make it more expensive, Gano said. "(Fenton has) been able to keep the old styles and maintain reasonable prices," he said. "It's mid-line price as far as the market."

Fenton is popular in large part because each piece is unique. It doesn't come from "cookie-cutter" machinery in which every piece is the same.

Glass-making is not something learned overnight.

"A journeyman can study for years to become a blower," Gano said. "There's one guy, his father blew for Fenton. He now blows glass and he's been there for 17 years. Families have worked for Fenton. It's a family- owned corporation."